Shopping carts generally have a basket for carrying the day's purchases and a handle by which the cart is pushed or pulled. In addition, shopping carts usually have at least two wheels on which the cart rolls. Therefore, the cart is mostly suitable for travel over relatively hard surfaces such as pavement or, in some cases, gravel.
Furthermore, it is known that shopping carts are utilized not only in supermarkets and other stores for carrying materials selected to a check-out counter, but are also employed to transport the purchased items to the customer's vehicle in the store's parking lot. In good weather pushing the cart through the lot is an easy task. During winter after a blanket of snow has fallen, shoppers often experience difficulties pulling or pushing shopping carts through the snow. This is due to a tendency of the wheels to sink into the snow. Therefore, when the lot is covered with ice and snow, as is the case during winter conditions in many areas, moving the cart, especially by pushing it in the normal manner, becomes difficult. In such circumstances customers may refuse to attempt to use the cart in the parking lot and may try to carry their parcels to their vehicles. Under conditions of poor footing this can lead to slipping, and accidents. Sometimes, when the customer is accompanied by another person, he or she may have that other person drive the vehicle to the store exit because it is too difficult to move the cart to the car, which can cause congestion at that location. When it is attempted to move the cart through a snowy parking lot it has been found that it is easier to pull it than to push it but this is awkward and is sometimes dangerous because the customer then often walks backward and cannot be as aware of vehicle movements in the lot as is desirable.
Therefore, there is a need to make supermarket shopping carts readily movable through supermarket parking lots despite adverse weather conditions under which the ground or pavement is covered with snow and/or ice. Furthermore, a shopping cart should be inexpensive in order to be commercially. Still further, a shopping cart should be lightweight since the cart is often used by women and children.
Therefore, there is a need for a shopping cart that can be easily moved during adverse weather conditions but which is also inexpensive and lightweight.